Patent GB-598596-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to yarn winding machines
IPC: B65H54/26
Filed: 1945-02-22
Abstract: 598,596. Winding yarn. EVANS, W. E. (Foster Machine Co.). Feb. 22, 1945, No. 4501. [Class 120 (ii)] A multi-unit yarn winding machine has means for supporting and rotating a core to wind a package thereon from a source of yarn supply, suction means including an air suction duct, means for periodically moving the duct toward and away from said package in a substantially radial direction to apply suction at a point proximate to the periphery of the package in order to suck off a length of yarn from the package, and means for delivering the sucked-off length to a location for tying with the end of yarn on a supply bobbin of the source of supply of yarn. The machine described comprises two parallel rows of winding units 30 each comprising a driving roll 32 and traverse cam 56, the rolls 32 and cams 56 of each row being driven by an electric motor 36 through belts 37 and shafts 33, 55, common to each row of units. The packages 45 being wound are wound on cores 44 supported by arms 46 from a shaft 48 extending the length of the machine. Extending about the units 30 is a trackway comprising upper and lower rails 154, 151 lying parallel to the two rows of units and joined at each end of the machine by curved portions 156. Around the trackway a tender 160 is driven so that, in turn, it operates on each unit when the yarn supply thereto has failed through exhaustion or a broken end. The tender-driving motor 177 takes current from a bus bar 159 through a roller 169, the supply being stepped-down by a transformer 171 to preferably 24 volts, the return circuit being through the machine frame. The motor 177 drives two traction pulleys 164, through variable speed reduction gearing 178 and belts 179, 180, the belt 180 running under the pulleys 164 and resting on the lower rail 151. Also driven continuously by the motor 177 and carried by the tender is a fan 240 which supplies air under pressure through a duct 250 and suction in a duct 252 for the purpose of retrieving a broken end from a package 45 and sucking a length therefrom for subsequent knotting to a reserve supply yarn. It also removes lint &c. from the package. Under normal winding conditions at each unit, yarn Y from a supply bobbin 71, forming one of three bobbins carried on a base 73 on a'shaft 74, is led over a guide 342, through a tension device 351, 349 and a slubbing device 357 above a detector finger 112 and then through the guide 60 traversed by the cam 56 to the package 45. When the tender 160, in its travel, approaches a unit 30 which is winding normally it passes idly by with the exception that a rod 205 carried by the tender is moved by a plate 111 on the end of the starting lever 110 (in normal running position) to swing a rack 203 away from its normal path and so avoid turning the bobbin supply base 73 to present a fresh supply bobbin. When the tender 160 approaches a unit 30 which has stopped by reason of yarn failure, the relative movement of tender and unit, by reason of the movement of the detector finger 112 will bring into operation mechanism for (1) projecting the cam-operated suction nozzle 254 towards the package 45 which has previously been lifted from its driving roll 32. (2) placing a reversing roller 280, carried by the air and suction ducts 250, 252, between the roller 32 and the still package 45 for driving same in the reverse direction to unwind a length of yarn therefrom, allowing same to be sucked into the duct 252 and lie along a slot 293 which is crossed by slots 290,291. A brake may be fitted to limit the amount of unwinding in the reverse direction. (3) withdrawing the suction nozzle 254 and the reversing roller 280, after a hook 335, supported on the shaft 74 has passed through the slot 291 to remove the yarn end therefrom and place it in a slot 399 in a knotting device, a slot 334 of which contains the end of a yarn from a reserve supply bobbin on the base 73. (4) knotting the two ends together. The knotter, carried by the tender, may be of conventional type or, alternatively, the operation may be performed manually. (5) turning the reserve bobbin holder by means of the rack 203 which rotates the holder through one third of a revolution to bring a reserve bobbin into active position, the operative inserting the yarn end into the slot 334 of the knotter. Simultaneously, the exhausted bobbin is doffed by virtue of its carrying pin 79 supported by a pivotable plate 78 being turned by the cooperation of a lug and tripper to allow the empty bobbin to fall under gravity into a receiving box 222 trailing around with the tender 160. The operative then takes a full supply bobbin from the box 221, also trailing with the tender 160, and inserts it into a chute 230, having a spring biassed portion, to guide the full bobbin on to the empty spindle 79. (6) lowering the starting lever 110 by the cooperation of a cam 330 on the tender with the roller 277 on the arm lever 110 to bring the package 45 into contact again with the driving roller 32 and at the same time to reset the detector finger 112 and the knock-off mechanism. The pull of the yarn takes the knotted yarn over a pivoted finger 340, by which it is guided into the tension and slubbing devices, while at the same time avoiding passage of the knot through those devices which might result in a further break.